Making Teachers Professionals, Part II

I have received several comments to my earlier post on this subject. Some of which I felt should be addressed in a follow up post.

Amerloc wrote:

Unfortunately, all those advanced degrees and rigorous multi-day exams don't guarantee competence in either doctors or lawyers. Where both become either good or get weeded out is in actual practice, under the wing of someone more experienced.I think we have to extend the discussion to include an examination of that same kind of mentoring/tutelage to education.

Amerloc is absolutely correct; simply having an rigorous course of advanced instruction and tough licensing procedures does not, in itself, guarantee competence in either lawyers or doctors and nor will it for individual teachers, but that is an issue of individuals. The problem I am trying to address is a societal problem, namely that society does not view teachers as professionals, which I argue that they should. But to address the perception issue, the profession of teaching needs to look toward its foundations and encourage--no require--tougher standards of education before a teacher steps into a classroom. In medicine and in the law, there are practitioners who are not competent, but the peer pressure placed by the remaining professional either ensures competence or weeds out the incompetent.

Right now I am not encouraging the inclusion of a particular facet of teacher training at an advanced level, although I have ideas. True most doctors have internships after medical school and most lawyers spend several years working under the guidance of an experienced lawyer. Teachers currently do so, but I think there needs to be a standardized set of instructional principals imparted in teacher education and training.

Simeon wrote:

A profession has certain characteristics: it has a clearly defined and accepted knowledge base, is self-restricted and self-regulated. Society cedes control and power to professions in exchange for specialized services which few have the time or inclination to learn and provide for themselves. It is hard to see how teaching can be considered a profession.

Lets take a look at the characteristics of teaching. We as a society have ceded enormous control and power over our children to teachers. Whether that is good or bad is a sociological question of great import, but nevertheless, we have ceded such control. We are asking teachers to provide a specialized service that most Americans are unable or unwilling to perform themselves. Despite the fact that many people could perform the task for their children, the fact is that in modern society, we do not do that.

Granted, there is no clearly defined knowledge base in the way we think of law and medicine, there are those, like Jenny D, who are making an effort to do so. I believe that we as a society must do this in order to address the need for a better education service for our children. Just because one does not exist now, does not mean it can't or shouldn't exist--it merely needs to be found.

Finally, if teachers are to become a true profession with standards and a code of ethics similar to law and medicine, I would encourage self-regulation and self-licensing. Although self-regulation and licensing, while generally handled by the profession, is still subject to state control. Of course, this step would be bitterly fought by teachers' unions, but that is a matter for another time.

Lawyers have a rigorous course of study and entrance exam and regulate themselves through a bar association. ... On the other hand, there is little consensus about the knowledge and skill base necessary to be a teacher. Moreover, the education and certification requirements of teachers are highly regulated by state legislatures and school boards (e.g. people with little teaching experience) Teachers have little control over their occupation, hence their low stature and pay in society.

Simeon is completely correct in his assessment about the current control factor over the profession of teaching. However, it need not remain that way. If teachers were willing to subject themselves to the necessary regualtion, then ceding the direct control from the state to the self-regulated teacher association would likely follow. Teachers themselves need to take on this task of increasing the stature of their profession.

I would vociferously disagree with Simeon's statement "there is little consensus about the knowledge and skill base necessary to be a teacher." I think everyone one of us can judge what makes a good doctor or lawyer. Similarly, we can also identify good teachers. I think there is a fairly good consensus on what makes a good teacher. I firmly believe that many of the educational, training and theoretical bases of these teachers are common and it is those foundational materials that should be taught in teacher school.

Here Simeon gets it, I think:

I think it would take establishing national teacher standards, eliminating undergraduate degrees in education, requiring graduate degrees, intense residency experiences and rigorous entrance exams to make teaching a true profession. If the unions focused on that instead of how many minutes per day teachers can work with students we might get somewhere.

Here, here. For those who are uninitiated, bar exams generally consist of two parts, one day of essay exams based upon state law. These vary from state to state since many aspects of state law also vary. But there is also a standardized Multi-State Bar Exam which test knowledge in six general areas of law common to all states: constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and procedure, evidence, real property and torts.

There will be differences between states in specifics, but a general base of knowledge about teaching and how to teach will be common across all states. In this respect national teacher standards may be appropriate, but the function will still be, and must be, state driven.

I am arguing that to change the societal viewpoint of teachers and the profession of teachers, many changes are necessary to the education of our educators. The importance of education to our society has become too important. Like the importance of sound medical practices in the early 1900's, we need to move beyond the haphazard instruction of future teachers to a more structured, common foundation.